NPD! Fortin Zuul / Blade have landed - Pics!

JerEvil

Well-known member
I know I know BUT...

as you can hear in my WILDLY popular (and arguably the best sounding...) Fortin Cali vid from NAMM, the Blade is Killer with modded Marshall types.

Mine shipped today and I’m pretty stoked for it for sure. Also, my studio power is definitely a bit noisier than the old house. I needed a gate so nabbed a Zuul. This way I can have it in the loop and out front. Also... I opted for the Zuul because it looks cool as hell AND THATS IMPORTANT!

EDIT:

Pedals have arrived! Can not wait to actually play them! LOL! I went home to specifically take these pics and then had to haul it back to work.

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First pedals I have bought since going Helix. Actually sold most all my other analog pedals but the Friedman Buxon.
 
I want to order a Blade and give it a try but I'm not sure how it will mix with current amp? The Fryette stuff is already pretty damn tight and punchy. I saw a demo on YouTube of a 50CL with and without a Grind and preferred it without. I realize the Blade has more control options than the Grind but still not sure its necessary. Maybe I'll wait for your review of it.
 
Is the Zuul running in the loop unique? What’s the benefit vs running it in front?

And any thoughts on how this compares to the Decimator? That’s what I have but interested in this and the Sentry.
 
NateFreezy":rdvgdr3q said:
Is the Zuul running in the loop unique? What’s the benefit vs running it in front?

And any thoughts on how this compares to the Decimator? That’s what I have but interested in this and the Sentry.
So this would be like running the Decimator G-String I believe. I will test it against my buddy’s Fecimator for sure.

stratjacket":rdvgdr3q said:
Congrats, love the Zuul, can't wait to hear the Blade
Oh cool. Glad you dig the Zuul. I have yet to hear about someone being dissatisfied with it. I loved the Blade on the Fortin Cali so I expect it’ll be killer with the BE and the Henning.
 
The Zuul is great but it only gates the loop OR in front, not both. The key input allows the Zuul to track the input signal to open/close but in my rig I still found it nessesary to run a second gate in front to reduce the input noise.

Here's how I'm running mine:
TU3w>Output into 805 > ISP Decimate > Amp
TU3w Bypass into Zuul key input

vQI_TximlPfUPBN1cfZyfnoUY5QRgRUepk1c46USSNFc8tuxfpNsgrORlTOpoOTpuX72X0U_c9_rQKaBPrYh835ddPit1oHCCE0dzeg16NQcFvxI7gqA_FPhg2eGlCbYyFmh6DZ9999sBl2z3KLODZEBXSHO74qDgooAiUau13Y32Frp8f0HBzoYkFkQ_jCRjzbFrQj94RYpbrBvMbKoYmOrxg8YYWe6IOjAjP7LhtD7egARZuPY_vR05pbjwCs3EGR2fViCdoMz3iz6JnlnUv956X9w4H-nW1GykPwU4kIw0ikbSpbQVIzRPoprFB7pML361l2Dk4F1eOFtasSKniiIbAecKJwmTcW6mA5J4whFa6rV5IJImFZipug8aAmeYOc9sLYC7Tf6oV8OMeV6-hJg5dqO8MXZUqSWMgGbTv2dld9JL-1rNJxKotxfSyx3dr3V3TNxeS98a5IX0eeCk8jFXQUki5Wb-1dlb96y-SbiyI_J-Tiw8jx2gjLgB6HdMKMfEkIkaM0Mjr7e9Sws9UQj5246rGsAnxyYaQn8jjnnE7mqc-XcmmD1K5N04eGIPhGx1rIdwNO_6Y99r9FrP5X27427rlNRr0Y3QZXys2v5ece5_6QF3gwjw2sDuOq3RhJcv9dPjpkyh1Ed5X9RJksMIFDo_YQ=w950-h712-no
 
JerEvil":ama3w96l said:
stratjacket":ama3w96l said:
Congrats, love the Zuul, can't wait to hear the Blade
Oh cool. Glad you dig the Zuul. I have yet to hear about someone being dissatisfied with it. I loved the Blade on the Fortin Cali so I expect it’ll be killer with the BE and the Henning.

Yeah man, I love the Zuul so much, I bought it twice. I was at work one day and someone on here posted they WTB a Zuul; in my head, I got the Zuul mixed up with the Grind and sold it while at work only to be EXTREMELY pissed at myself when I got home and realized what I did. I went ahead and sold it, and ordered another Zuul.

I use mine as the last pedal before the front of the amp. I split my guitar signal with a JHS buffer and have my TC Polytuner on 1 output of the splitter and OD's/EQ's on the other output. So the tuner is out of my path. The output of the tuner goes to the key input of the Zuul. Works great and when I engage the tuner, it mutes the amp through the Zuul. Pretty cool I think.
 
jc986":w7woj2dv said:
The Zuul is great but it only gates the loop OR in front, not both. The key input allows the Zuul to track the input signal to open/close but in my rig I still found it nessesary to run a second gate in front to reduce the input noise.

Here's how I'm running mine:
TU3w>Output into 805 > ISP Decimate > Amp
TU3w Bypass into Zuul key input

vQI_TximlPfUPBN1cfZyfnoUY5QRgRUepk1c46USSNFc8tuxfpNsgrORlTOpoOTpuX72X0U_c9_rQKaBPrYh835ddPit1oHCCE0dzeg16NQcFvxI7gqA_FPhg2eGlCbYyFmh6DZ9999sBl2z3KLODZEBXSHO74qDgooAiUau13Y32Frp8f0HBzoYkFkQ_jCRjzbFrQj94RYpbrBvMbKoYmOrxg8YYWe6IOjAjP7LhtD7egARZuPY_vR05pbjwCs3EGR2fViCdoMz3iz6JnlnUv956X9w4H-nW1GykPwU4kIw0ikbSpbQVIzRPoprFB7pML361l2Dk4F1eOFtasSKniiIbAecKJwmTcW6mA5J4whFa6rV5IJImFZipug8aAmeYOc9sLYC7Tf6oV8OMeV6-hJg5dqO8MXZUqSWMgGbTv2dld9JL-1rNJxKotxfSyx3dr3V3TNxeS98a5IX0eeCk8jFXQUki5Wb-1dlb96y-SbiyI_J-Tiw8jx2gjLgB6HdMKMfEkIkaM0Mjr7e9Sws9UQj5246rGsAnxyYaQn8jjnnE7mqc-XcmmD1K5N04eGIPhGx1rIdwNO_6Y99r9FrP5X27427rlNRr0Y3QZXys2v5ece5_6QF3gwjw2sDuOq3RhJcv9dPjpkyh1Ed5X9RJksMIFDo_YQ=w950-h712-no

It gates both. Split the signal, use the key and it gates the front and loop. That is how it works. :rock:
 
I am splitting the signal (from the tuner). Mine doesn’t seem to gate the front so I added the Decimate and it’s much quieter.
 
engage757":2ag1lngq said:
jc986":2ag1lngq said:
The Zuul is great but it only gates the loop OR in front, not both. The key input allows the Zuul to track the input signal to open/close but in my rig I still found it nessesary to run a second gate in front to reduce the input noise.

Here's how I'm running mine:
TU3w>Output into 805 > ISP Decimate > Amp
TU3w Bypass into Zuul key input

vQI_TximlPfUPBN1cfZyfnoUY5QRgRUepk1c46USSNFc8tuxfpNsgrORlTOpoOTpuX72X0U_c9_rQKaBPrYh835ddPit1oHCCE0dzeg16NQcFvxI7gqA_FPhg2eGlCbYyFmh6DZ9999sBl2z3KLODZEBXSHO74qDgooAiUau13Y32Frp8f0HBzoYkFkQ_jCRjzbFrQj94RYpbrBvMbKoYmOrxg8YYWe6IOjAjP7LhtD7egARZuPY_vR05pbjwCs3EGR2fViCdoMz3iz6JnlnUv956X9w4H-nW1GykPwU4kIw0ikbSpbQVIzRPoprFB7pML361l2Dk4F1eOFtasSKniiIbAecKJwmTcW6mA5J4whFa6rV5IJImFZipug8aAmeYOc9sLYC7Tf6oV8OMeV6-hJg5dqO8MXZUqSWMgGbTv2dld9JL-1rNJxKotxfSyx3dr3V3TNxeS98a5IX0eeCk8jFXQUki5Wb-1dlb96y-SbiyI_J-Tiw8jx2gjLgB6HdMKMfEkIkaM0Mjr7e9Sws9UQj5246rGsAnxyYaQn8jjnnE7mqc-XcmmD1K5N04eGIPhGx1rIdwNO_6Y99r9FrP5X27427rlNRr0Y3QZXys2v5ece5_6QF3gwjw2sDuOq3RhJcv9dPjpkyh1Ed5X9RJksMIFDo_YQ=w950-h712-no

It gates both. Split the signal, use the key and it gates the front and loop. That is how it works. :rock:
Yeah Zack thatvwas my understanding in talking to Jason. I’ll be splitting mine off my TU-2.
 
jc986":282637cn said:
I am splitting the signal (from the tuner). Mine doesn’t seem to gate the front so I added the Decimate and it’s much quieter.


That is VERY strange. Haven't heard this one before.
 
Yup - Key input works perfectly for me!

Guitar into TU3w. One split going into my pedals (OD-9 > RAT > Grind > BF-2 > amp) and then into front of amp.
Second split out of TU3w goes to key input on ZUUL.
Amp FX Loop SEND> ZUUL Return > ZUUL Send > DD-3 > RV-6 > Amp FX Loop Return
 
engage757":26s0t2c8 said:
jc986":26s0t2c8 said:
I am splitting the signal (from the tuner). Mine doesn’t seem to gate the front so I added the Decimate and it’s much quieter.


That is VERY strange. Haven't heard this one before.

Hmm...just looking at the signal path to me it makes sense that the front isn’t gated, but rather the gating is all happening in the loop, triggered based on the input signal. How could the Zuul gate the front if it is not in the front signal chain?

The only place any noise reduction is happening is in the loop.
 
jc986":19b3e7lm said:
engage757":19b3e7lm said:
jc986":19b3e7lm said:
I am splitting the signal (from the tuner). Mine doesn’t seem to gate the front so I added the Decimate and it’s much quieter.


That is VERY strange. Haven't heard this one before.

Hmm...just looking at the signal path to me it makes sense that the front isn’t gated, but rather the gating is all happening in the loop, triggered based on the input signal. How could the Zuul gate the front if it is not in the front signal chain?

If you run the Zuul in the loop, it gates everything in front of the amp, but also the pre-amp section of the amp, which on high gain amps can be noisy even just sitting there idle.
 
It gates in the loop, which I agree does affect the overall noise reduction, but there is no gating of the guitar and any dirt pedals since the input signal does not pass through the Zuul. . So with high output pickups and a boost, my rig is much quieter when also using a gate in front.
 
Even Fortin’s description of the pedal more or less says that it only gates what flows through the input/output jacks. The key input is just a trigger for the gate to activate in the loop.

“The KEY input signal can be directly from your guitar (ex. split from the tuner) or other signal source which lets you go from clean to high gain without changing the Threshold knob. This powerful feature lets you control the gate with a different signal than what flows through the input/output jacks of the ZUUL.”
 
jc986":296c130j said:
It gates in the loop, which I agree does affect the overall noise reduction, but there is no gating of the guitar and any dirt pedals since the input signal does not pass through the Zuul. . So with high output pickups and a boost, my rig is much quieter when also using a gate in front.

I don't think you understand how a noise gate or an fx loop works. Noise gate is either open or closed. It doesn't reduce noise. It has a threshold by which it opens or closes. The knob on the ZUUL adjusts that threshold.

Not sure what amp you have, but a typical amp with a SERIES FX loop, all the signal (everything from the front of the amp, including the signal after running through the pre-amp section) runs through the FX loop when it's hooked up and/or on (some amp have switch to turn off the loop), then onto the power section, and out the speaker jack.

If you wire up the ZUUL properly through your FX loop, it's gating everything from your guitar, up to and including any pedals in front of the amp, and then the signal after it's processed by pre-amp section. Any pedals in the loop run AFTER the ZUUL in the fx loop aren't gated, which is what you'd want for modulation effects like Delay and Reverb... as they can continue to trail off after the gate is shut.

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=196494#p2182811

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This picture posted by engage757 shows the perfect way to run it. Mine is set up this way and I have Delay and Reverb AFTER the Zuul before going back to the FX Return jack.
 
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